The Independence Day weekend is off to a spectacular start. Sunshine and unlimited visibilities return for a second day. Friday’s highs held in the 70s for the first time in nearly two weeks—readings 20 degrees below the steamy 90° levels of the past week. But, the transition to beautiful weather occurred with comparatively low coverage rainfall. Midwest lawns and farm fields still languish after four months of drought.
The pattern couldn’t be more different in the Southeast. Waves of rain have swept the area with great regularity since spring, sending the region’s rainfall totals soaring. Sections of Florida have been especially hard hit. Naples was swamped in June by a record 21.28” of rain, more than 2.5 times the normal 8.18”, and 60 percent of Chicago’s annual rainfall.
Powerful storms prompted weather watches in the Plains. A twister touched down in North Dakota, and another was reported in Canada’s Manitoba Province.
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
